Consumer assessment of the assortment and quality of enternal nutrition foods

Purpose. To conduct consumer assessment of the assortment and quality of enteral nutrition foods using the methodology of commodity research, to develop new types of the foods with consideration to the specifics of the patients’ metabolism. Methodology. The research methodology is based on the methods of scientific cognition, system approach and generalization. Results of the previous interview are used to identify the needs and demands of consumers of enteral nutrition foods. The index of consumer needs satisfaction is derived by the calculation method. Findings. A model for consumer requirements to enteral nutrition foods is developed. The model is based on their functional requirements to foods, determined by the purpose of foods. Ergonomic requirements are determined by the extension of the food assortment by use of various commodity forms of foods, advanced types of packaging with the varying capacity, easiness of cooking, convenience of food consumption; economic ones are determined by price, availability of alternatives to the existing foods, providing for rational choice by price/quality ratio. Requirements to the informativeness are an add-on of the model, which cannot provide the conditions for its effective operation. The ranks of satisfaction and the ranks of importance are used to calculate the index of consumer needs satisfaction, which is used to identify some problems calling for solutions in order to have the satisfaction of consumer needs maximized. It is found that a pressing issue of today is related with reduction of food price, which can be achieved by organizing their manufacturing in Ukraine and using the potential of the domestic resource base; by extending the assortment of foods with consideration to the needs of certain user categories and using various commodity forms and package materials. Originality. The approaches to consumer assessment of the assortment and quality of enteral nutrition foods using the methodology of commodity research are proposed, which enable for defining the criteria of their consumer properties, to develop new types of foods with consideration to the specifics of the patients’ metabolism The practical value. The produced results were used in developing new enteral nutrition foods in Ukraine. The model generalizing the consumer requirements is capable to implement one of the principles underlying quality management: orientation on consumer when forming the assortment of enteral nutrition foods

requirement; rating; index of satisfaction; need, enteral nutrition foods